cberg Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 The edit curtainwall function is kind of a pain to work with. Does anybody have a good way to make sure that mullions are aligned with reference points in plan? The videos seem to show most of the editing in 3D, but that makes it tough to align with a grid, or something 2D. It's very easy to make angled mullions, but hard to move them to set points of reference. For that matter. If I want to add a horizontal mullion at 36" above finish floor, can I just type it in somewhere? Thx Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted July 13, 2015 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted July 13, 2015 If its an even spacing grid, you can select all the frames, position the first and last in the intended spots then use Distribute to space them all evenly. There was no functionality included to align objects to a 2D grid or snap grid. Quote Link to comment
cberg Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Okay. So I'm not crazy. I figured out the even distribution thing. It would be very helpful to be able to align mullions or snap to something measured or measurable. I found myself having to eyeball the mullions in plan, and I kind of gave up on trying to figure out the section. It would also be helpful to be able to duplicate the mullions by a specified distance. You can duplicate by holding down an option key. You can move by a set distance. But it doesn't appear you can do both. :\ Quote Link to comment
Benson Shaw Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Move by Points tool (2d tool set, but it works 3d, too) has a dupe & distribute by distance mode. Would that do what you want? -B Quote Link to comment
cberg Posted July 14, 2015 Author Share Posted July 14, 2015 Move by points tool does not appear to move an individual mullion in a curtainwall edit mode, at least on my computer. If I am in a curtainwall edit mode, and highlight the selected mullion, once I hit the move by points tool, the selection mullion is deselected and the entire wall is selected. I do see that you can edit the grid manually by hitting the curtainwall grid dialogue box. So theoretically you can enter the dimensions manually. Quote Link to comment
deliamicaela Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 cberg, I have been having the same problem with the mullions deselecting when you click the move by tool and actually created a curtain wall system today. My process was to view the model in open gl front view, scroll in so that I have the mullion I want to move and the object I want to snap to on the same screen (door, line, whatever) then to select the curtain wall, then select the edit curtain wall tool, then scroll over the mullion till it turns red, I then roll over and snap to the edge of the mullion while making sure it is still red, click at that point, keep the mouse button down to drag and snap to the desired end point. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment
cberg Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Has anybody found a workaround for this? Over a year and one new release since I asked about best practices for aligning curtainwall mullions in plan/elevation. It doesn't appear that anything has changed or improved in the tool... In it's current state the curtainwall is pretty limited and practically useless. Paradoxically, the old window wall tool has more functionality. I struggle with aligning mullions to plan regulating lines, since you cannot move mullions by points or snap to guide lines. I struggle with how to how to enter the horizontal mullion elevation of a given mullion section. The curtainwall tool needs to be able to be inserted into a wall, since that is how storefront works in the real world. Rather than developing "cool things" like point clouds which very few people use, I really wish VW would focus on improving basic things in the program. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted December 22, 2015 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted December 22, 2015 Has anybody found a workaround for this? Over a year and one new release since I asked about best practices for aligning curtainwall mullions in plan/elevation. It doesn't appear that anything has changed or improved in the tool... Could you please link me to your wishlist request? I searched through previous posts and could not find one, apologies if I missed it. Quote Link to comment
cberg Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 I wasn't entirely sure it was a missing feature or whether I was missing something... How do people align mullions in this tool? Does anybody use it? How would you set up a curtainwall where the mullions were aligned to the third points of the column line grid? What if you needed to move or copy a mullion by a given increment? What if you wanted the elevation of a horizontal set a door height? How would you enter this? or if you wanted a horizontal set at a given elevation? It does appear that you can do this if you awkwardly hold down a bunch of keys and hit the tab key, but it takes a few tries... I surely can't be the only person to ask these questions, however. Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted December 22, 2015 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted December 22, 2015 Make sure to file wishes for these since they are not present. Its entirely possible that engineering will already have a plan to cover them, but its better to file too many requests than to assume its something that will happen on its own. Quote Link to comment
cberg Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Will do. Thanks for your help, and enjoy the holidays. Quote Link to comment
Meret Lenzlinger Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Has there ever been an update to this? It's maddening! Also, IU cannot for the life of me select more than one mullion at a time. Or only rarely and seemingly randomly. In the Edit Curtainwall tool, I select a mullion, hold down the shift key, and it deselects the first when I click the next. I have been having this problem for months. 1 Quote Link to comment
TomKen Posted March 5, 2021 Share Posted March 5, 2021 I use the curtainwall tool a lot to create my windows. Most of our projects use storefront windows. What I do is create my curtain wall then group it. Enter the group and go to a front view of the curtainwall. In the 3d modelling tool group use the set working plane tool to set the working plane to face of the curtainwall. Then I draw a horizontal or vertical reference line at the edges of the curtainwall, offset the lines to the center point of where you want your mullions. Add or Select a mullion, if you look at mullion there is a plus sign in the center of it, select the mullion at that point then drag it to the reference line. It will snap to the line. I also wish that you could just specify the distance of the mullions by clicking on them. So far though this is the best way I've found to do it. If someone has a better solution I would love to hear it. Also the reason I group the wall is so that I can turn off show other objects while editing it, and so that I can place it into a window or door opening in a wall. 2 Quote Link to comment
JBB Posted May 17, 2022 Share Posted May 17, 2022 Exactly the frustrating problem I was seeking answers for in this "Knowledge Base". SEVEN years of this question sitting out there not being addressed. Can't say as I totally understood the grouping method. My solution to get vertical framing on either side of a 6' door opening is to create a new Wall Style with 6'2" spacing for the verticals and center the wall install where I need the door to be centered. Oh, but we have Point Cloud and Marionette...Attend to the Basics people...This tool needs an overhaul. Oh, maybe it will be fixed/updated in VW2023? Any bets? 1 Quote Link to comment
K.E Posted July 31, 2024 Share Posted July 31, 2024 Almost 9 years to the date and I am having the exact same problem. Is there any fix to this yet? Why can't we just have a move button on a mullion?? Maddening indeed... Quote Link to comment
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